Protected by the Surly Carpenter by Haley Travis

Be careful in the deep forest.
You might be charmed by the love of your life.

Just as I'm cornered by friends of the last person I ever want to see again, a wall of muscles in a black t-shirt glides between us to shield me.

Perfect timing. And perfectly gorgeous.

Clark offers to act as my boyfriend and drive me home after my shift. At first glance, he seems like a grump, a hardass, and a total loner.

Then he smiles at me. And my entire world shifts.

He's wildly sexy, with a quiet confidence as he steps up again and again to make sure that I'm safe. He's not shy about talking about the future, although I can't plan that far ahead until I'm no longer being followed.

Everything good in my life has always been taken from me. Yet this beast of an older man is different. I want to believe our instant connection is real. That we belong together.

And that his obsession with protecting me has a chance of becoming permanent.